Themeda gigantea var. villosa (Poir.) Roberty, 1960

Veldkamp, J. F., 2016, A revision of Themeda (Gramineae) in Malesia with a new species from Laos, Blumea 61 (1), pp. 29-40 : 36

a. var. villosa

Plants perennial. Culms 1.5–3.5 m long, tufted. Nodes glabrous. Ligule c. 1.5 mm long, margin glabrous to ciliolate. Leaves 100–250 cm by 6.5–20 mm. Uppermost spatheoles glabrous. Peduncle 8–15 mm long, usually c. 1/2 times as long as the spatheole, rarely less, white hairy. Capitule long-persistent. Involucral spikelets conspicuous, pairs unequally inserted, male; lower glumes linear-lanceolate, (6–)8–21 by 1–2 mm, acuminate, herbaceous, 11-nerved, scaberulous or dorsally with some long hairs; upper glumes 3-nerved. Fertile spikelets 2–3 (rarely 1 or 4), 9.5–12.5 mm long (incl. callus); callus 1.5–3 mm long, pilose, hairs brown, 1.5–2 mm long; lower glumes castaneous or brown or yellowish, apex truncate, hairs castaneous. Awn (careful: sometimes early deciduous!) or very short (column more or less straight) or well-developed (exceptionally well-developed with a contorted column), imperfect to perfect, absent or very short, column more or less straight, usually imperfect, rarely well-developed and column contorted, 0(–32) mm long, column 0–14 mm long (i.s.), scaberulous, hairs white or rufous (i.s.). Anthers 2.5–3.2(–7) mm long, purple i.s. Pedicel appressed hairy. Pedicelled spikelets 3–4, male, 11–19 mm long; lower glumes apex acuminate, glabrous to minutely puberulous. 2n = 20, 32.

Distribution — NE India (E from Bihar), Nepal to Tibet and S China (E to Hubei), Nicobars, Thailand (Northern: Chiang Mai; Southwestern: Rachaburi; Peninsular: Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Songkhla, Trang); Malesia: Malay Peninsula (widespread), Singapore, Sumatra (Aceh, E-, W Coast, Lampong, Palembang, Riau), Lingga, Bangka, Java (mainly in the West), Madura, Borneo (widespread, rare), Celebes (widespread, rare), Philippines ( Cebu, Mindanao, Negros, Palawan, rare), Lesser Sunda Isl. (Bali, Flores, Komodo, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor), Moluccas (Buru), Papua New Guinea (Vogelkop: Kaimana). Introduced elsewhere as an ornamental, e.g. Hawaii, Sri Lanka.

Habitat — Sunny roadsides, sandbanks, river banks, grass jungles, abandoned fields, sometimes dominant, Eucalypt savannah, 0–1700 m altitude. Lörzing ( 6630, BO) noted that it did not occur on peat but was plentiful on volcanic rock, whereby one might tell the geological formation from its occurrence.

Vernacular name — Silky kangaroo grass.

Uses — Young shoots produce a sweet vegetable; used against cough; young marrow used to prevent infection of fresh ear holes; internodes formerly used as shafts for dip pens; leaves for roofing; clumps used as living hedges. Ash used as fertiliser. Occasionally planted as an ornamental, but because it is fertile, it may spread and become weedy.

Collector’s notes — Tufts 2–3.5 m tall, nodding. Culms with c. 15 nodes 30 cm apart, yellow green, mauve. Leaves to 1.8 m long, glaucous, with very pale midrib. Inflorescences mauve. Lemma (i.e. involucre) green. Flowers brown. Stigmas purple.

Notes — Usually the fertile spikelets are quite muticous ( mutica , sundaica), but occasionally some or all may be awned, with awns as long as 30 mm (e.g. Backer 17436; BO, L) ( armata, villosa ) sometimes even within the same capitules.A taxonomic distinction therefore seems impossible.

Rarely some lower glumes have long hairs as in T. arundinacea and T. villosa var. polyantha , but for other features the collections are best placed here.

The use by Gilliland (1971) was based on mixed collections. The illustration depicts T. villosa var. caudata .

Note the disjunction between W-, C Malesia and New Guinea.